Parent/Adolescent Weight Status Concordance and Parent Feeding Practices

Abstract

Background Prior studies have examined the independent influence of mothers’ weight status or childs’ weight status on parents’ use of specific feeding practices (i.e., restriction, pressure-to-eat). However, studies have not examined the mutual influence of parents' and adolescents' weight status on parents' feeding practices. This study examines the relationship between parent/adolescent weight status concordance and discordance and parent feeding practices. Methods Data from two linked population-based studies, EAT 2010 and F-EAT, were used for cross-sectional analysis. Mothers and fathers (n = 3,252; 63% females; mean age = 42.6 years) and adolescents (n = 2,153; 54% females; mean age = 14.4 years) were socio-economically and racially/ethnically diverse. Anthropometric assessments and surveys were completed at school by adolescents and surveys were completed at home by parents. Results Parents used the highest levels of pressure-to-eat feeding practices when parents and adolescents were both nonoverweight compared to all other combinations of concordant and discordant parent/adolescent weight status categories. Additionally, parents used the highest levels of food restriction when parents and adolescents were both overweight/obese compared to all other combinations of concordant and discordant parent/adolescent weight status categories. Sensitivity analyses with two parent households revealed similar patterns. Conclusions Results suggest that parents used parent feeding practices in response to both their adolescent’s and their own weight status. Results may inform health care providers and public health interventionists which parent/adolescent dyads are at highest risk for experiencing food restriction or pressure-to-eat parent feeding practices in the home environment and who to target in interventions.

Food Parenting Practices Among Parents with Overweight and Obesity: A Systematic Review

“…No significant difference was found on PFQ pushing the child to eat more [67], CFQ pressure to eat [68,70,72,74,75,80], PFSQ prompting/encouragement to eat [77] CFPQ pressure [73], and laboratory observational prompting a child to eat [81]. One study however, reported that parents with healthy-weight used significantly higher levels of CFQ pressure to eat when compared to parents with overweight and obesity, suggesting that parents with overweight/obesity use pressure to eat less [79]. Francis and colleagues [68] reported that pressure to eat by mothers with overweight/obesity was significantly predicted by daughters' adiposity, and mothers' concern for daughters' weight.…”

“…The oldest studies included in the review were published in 2001 [67,68] and the most recent studies were published in 2018 [65,69] (Table 1: Study Results Table can be found in supplementary materials, S1). Of the twenty relevant studies, sixteen were cross-sectional [67,68,[70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79], three were observational [80][81][82], and one longitudinal [83]. Research was conducted in the USA (n = 9), the UK (n = 2), Germany (n = 2), Turkey (n = 1), Australia (n = 1), Australia and New Zealand (n = 1), Brazil (n = 1), The Netherlands (n = 1), Poland (n=1) and China (n = 1).…”

“…All twenty studies used nonclinical samples. The sample sizes varied where the largest sample was over three-thousand parents [79], the smallest sample size was twenty mothers [80] (Table 1). FPPs were measured using questionnaires (n = 17), observations (n = 2) and a conjunction of both (n = 1).…”

“…FPPs were measured using questionnaires (n = 17), observations (n = 2) and a conjunction of both (n = 1). The questionnaires used in studies varied, however the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) and CFQ subscales appeared to be used most frequently [68,[70][71][72]74,75,79,80,83]. Other measures used to collect FPP data included the Pre-Schooler Feeding Questionnaire (PFQ) [67], the Chatoor Feeding Scale (CFS) [84], the Parental Feeding Style Questionnaire (PFSQ) [65,77], , the Toddler Snack Food Feeding Questionnaire (TSFFQ) [71], the Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire (CFPQ) [35,69,85], the Caregiver's Feeding Styles Questionnaire (CFSQ) [86], the Feeding Strategies Questionnaire (FSQ) [69], the Parenting Strategies for Eating and Activity Scale (PSEAS) [87], and the Meals in our Household (MioH) [69] measure.…”

Parent, school, and peer factors related to U.S. adolescents’ diet and exercise

“…For example, adolescents were more physically active if their parents engaged in PA more often, or if they perceived higher parental support for PA (Graham et al, ). Relationships are also important: having strict parents is associated with healthier behaviors (Alia, Wilson, George, Schneider, & Kitzman‐Ulrich, ; Berge, Meyer, Loth, MacLehose, & Neumark‐Sztainer, ). The effect of family structure (e.g., who lives in the home) was inconclusive in some studies (Hohepa, Scragg, Schofield, Kolt, & Schaaf, ), whereas others found that adolescents with two parents had healthier dietary behaviors (Levin & Kirby, ; Pearson, Atkin, Biddle, Gorely, & Edwardson, ).…”